Sends at Smith

I just got back last night from climbing for a few days down at Smith Rock in Oregon. I wasn't psyched on Smith. Squamish was my first choice, then Mazama, but because of weather we headed south. Smith turned out to be really fun and not as hot as I had feared.

Photo Op!

Austin and Little Si

I went down with Austin, who is in fine form right now. I belayed him on his first 12a at Little Si last Thursday. Since it was just the two of us and we both wanted to get on some harder lines I could finally check out Easy's Playhouse a mini-crag at the top of Red Wall with 5 routes 11d-12d. It was a bit of a brutal (by my standards) hike up there, but it was well worth it. We warmed up on a few easy 10's on Red Wall on the way up. I graciously gave Austin the onsight attempt of Boys in the Hood the excellent 11d. He didn't onsight it, it turned into a mini-project for him. He finally got the send on his 6th try that day, after agonizingly falling twice at the last throw. Austin got a video of me flashing it (at the bottom).

Austin scoping out Big Boss Man

Not a bad place to hang out

While Austin was working the 11d, I was checking out the classic 12c there Big Boss Man. I could see all the moves from the ground and thought it looked like a good contender for an onsight attempt. It is steep bouldery and short, my style. In the old guidebook it was given 12a but you had to aid up to the first bolt and start from there. The new guide has it as 12c off the ground. The first moves were powerful but on good holds. Clipping the second bolt was very strenuous on the onsight, but the first bolt was a major spinner and I really didn't want to fall on it. The crux move for me was one of those where I was sure I was coming off, but I fully committed and managed to stick the hold. From there I got a bomber but painful knee-bar for a quick shake. The last few moves were powerful but I managed to keep it together for the onsight!

It was such a good feeling to climb something hard again. My climbing confidence wasn't great and morale was low, so this was exactly what I needed. That night we met up with Tyler and Emma at Skull Hollows and celebrated with a fire.

Tuesday started out with Tyler and Emma on some easy routes, before moving on to try some 11's. Austin finished off Heresy, an old project of his. Then we headed to Phoenix Buttress which was in the shade. I finished off the crag with License to Bolt (11c) a really good route with a really hard move if you're under 5'10", Austin got the send of that one too. I also did a really fun pockety route called When Llama's Bolt (11a). And I did a "10d" thats not worth talking about.

I was pretty spent by the time Wednesday rolled around, so I asked Austin what he wanted to get on. He was psyched for Big Boss Man after feeling out the moves on Monday while cleaning the draws on toprope. So we made the big hike up again. Without a warm up he put the draws up and fell off the last hard move in classic Austin style. He rested up then sent on his second go of the day! It was really inspiring to see him climb this thing, he looked really strong! It capped off a great trip for him, he climbed 4 of his 5 hardest routes on this trip, with the other route being the 12a he did last week! He is on fire right now. Needless to say we drove home with big smiles on our faces. This trip got me re-psyched for trying hard this summer. I'm looking forward to getting on some more hard routes this weekend!

Austin took video on his cell phone of the two routes we did at Easy's Playhouse, they turned out pretty good, the routes are as fun as they look.




My 100th 5.12 and Monkey Space

The weather in Washington has been pretty bad this summer so far and I was getting tired of climbing at Little Si. So Chas, Jimmy, Lisa and I headed down to Smith Rock on Wednesday night seeking some better weather. I've never climbed at Smith in the summer before, but this week was unseasonably cool, and in the shade the temps were perfect. I checked out some areas I hadn't been to before; the lower gorge, upper shipwreck, mesa verde, and the monkey face, and was not disappointed by any of them. At the lower gorge I managed to climb the amazing stemming route Pure Palm on my second attempt (note to self don't climb at the gorge in the blazing AM sun). At upper shipwreck I surprised myself with an onsight of Undertow a very fun gym-like 12b. According to my scorecard that route marks my 100th ever 5.12 or harder. Starting with my first one back in September 2005, I've climbed 52 12a's, 22 12b's, 17 12c's, 6 12d's, and 3 13a's. Pretty cool huh?

Lisa manages to climb Pure Palm without all the whining

Jimmy shows us how not to climb Smith 5.11s

Lisa making 5.13 look cool but hard

The highlight of the trip was definitely climbing Monkey Face though. I had often admired the 350ft free standing pillar before but had never gone up it. Chas who had been up via the Pioneer Route, encouraged me to go for the all-free Monkey Space route which is named for the super exposed 11a pitch which traverses out into a scary position high on the face. The first couple of 5.8 trad pitches were a lot of fun, we each took a lead. When it came time for me to go for the airy third pitch I was prepared for the worst. The holds which started out great soon turned pretty bad, but I took solace in the not-too-badly spaced bolts. The crux involves pulling over a bulge on sloping holds with awkward feet, I looked down to try to get my feet placed well, but seeing all the air below me made me a little queasy so I focused on my hand holds and managed to pull through. I guess the pitch is technically mixed, but I didn't read the description very closely so was forced to run out the 20ft flake to the mouth of the cave, since I didn't bring gear for this pitch. It was awesome! Once we were in the cave Chas tried to send me up what he was "sure" was our next pitch. I started up it, but the lack of chalk and crappy bolts led me to think this wasn't it. After checking the guidebook later, we found out the route was a sketchy 5.13 project, I'm glad I didn't get much further up it. Instead I took a look up the other side of the cave where I found a well chalked line of holds that looked a lot more like the 11b that we were supposed to go up. Although the hard climbing on this pitch only lasts for 3 bolts, it packs it in there, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't think I was going to fall. But I pulled it out, latched the victory jug and romped up the final 5.4 section to the top of the Monkey Face. Success! It was a great trip with Chas, Jimmy and Lisa, and it has me excited for upcoming Fall trips back down there now that I know what some of the other areas at Smith have to offer.

We should have read the description a little closer before heading up

The view looking up from the base of Monkey Face

Chas getting sunburned while waiting for me to follow him up pitch 2

Starting up the airy 11a pitch. Its hard to tell, but I'm actually very scared.

After the crux, holding on to a huge jug.

Chas following the 3rd pitch. This photo doesn't do the exposure justice.

Chas and I on the summit of the Monkey Face.

Quick Trip, Quick Send, The Quickening!

What was supposed to be a week-long spring break trip to Smith turned into just a 3 day trip, but despite the occasional hail storm I still managed to get a good amount of climbing in. I got down there Thursday morning and joined Nick, Andrew and Scott. It was pretty chilly so I warmed up on a route with lots of ledges to defrost numb hands, Middle Aged Vandals (11c). It’s a fun route that I’ve overlooked in the past, but its definitely worth jumping on. I then did a couple of nice easy routes with Scott to keep warm. Then within about an hour, we went from shivering in our down jackets to sweating in t-shirts when the sun came out while we were on Morning Glory wall. I wanted to try some harder routes out, so hoped on Churning and Taco Chips, both 13a, but I got shut down hard on them. Nick made really good links on Churning, and it was obvious that it would just come down to whether he would have enough time this trip to link it all.


Warming up on a fun 10b. There's still plenty of these left in the park for me to do.



Scott giving me a solid spot on the start of Taco Chips (Thanks Nick for the photos)

The hard route I really wanted to get on was The Quickening in Agro Gully. I got on it the next day, it is a really fun sport climb with two distinct cruxes. The first is pulling over a roof making dynamic moves off of 2 two-finger pockets. I love two-finger pockets so had no problem with this crux once I figured out the beta. The next crux comes midway up the head wall where you have to bust out left to a very small, but very good crimp, get your right foot up high in a pocket then lock-off and make a huge reach with your right hand to a slopey pocket. I couldn’t make the span, but I was able to reach a tiny triangle pinch just below it to lock of on and reach through to the pocket with. It was an unlikely looking move, but it worked for me. After that the route eases up and finishes on some fun 5.10 climbing on good holds. I had pretty much sussed out the all the beta, so got Nick to go for the flash attempt, unfortunately after a hard day of projecting he got spat off at the first crux, but dogged his way to the chains, and confirmed the quality of the route. I was psyched to give it a good 2nd go attempt, but a snow storm swept in so we made a hasty retreat to the campsite.

The start of the first crux of the Quickening

Setting up for the throw.

Latched it!

Ahh Jugs! (Photo sequence courtesy of Andrew)

Saturday was a beautiful sunny morning and I was psyched to get back on The Quickening, but had to warm up and wait for Andrew to get done stalking Paige Claassen (a hot 5.14 female climber) to get a belay. I felt really confident going for it, which is a nice feeling to have before a hard climb. I sailed through the first crux, got a bit of a shake, then nailed the second crux sticking to my beta. I was climbing great, then the flash pump hit me, my forearms were bulging, I couldn’t close my hands to chalk up, but I knew I couldn’t live with myself if I fell off the 5.10 jugs. I barely managed to clip one of the anchor draws before my hands opened up. Phew, I did it, just! I was stoked to have sent this Smith classic so quick, it gave me renewed confidence in my ability after a spell of not climbing outdoors. In my guide The Quickening gets 12d, but in the new one its 12c. And if I am being honest with myself there is no way I am in the kind of shape to be sending 12d so quick, so I’ll take the 12c grade. For the rest of the day I was content giving Andrew belays on his 12a project which he sent! I drove back up to Olympia that night with a huge grin on my face. You know it’s a great trip when you’re already planning out your next one.

Front Page News!

Smith Rock

I just got back from three days of fun at Smith Rocks. It was just Me Laura and Chris this time. Everyone else was put off by the thought of November weather at Smith, but it was actually some of the best conditions at Smith I've experienced. Temps were pretty much perfect, it was cool, but never cold enough for my fingers to go numb, and we never had to worry about chasing the shade.


Chris headed up the awesome Heresy

 

Laura on the long sustained Morning Sky (10c)

On Saturday after an early morning drive we warmed up, then headed straight to Chris' project, Heresy. A short but very stout 11c. After a couple of falls on the last the move it didn't look good, but after figuring out some crucial foot beta, he sent it on his third go of the day! We finished up the day catching the last of the afternoon sun or morning glory wall, where we all led up Morning Sky, an awesome long 10c. Its hard to believe, but that was Laura's hardest send at Smith, it just goes to show how hard the smith routes are. We celebrated the day with some awesome food and beverages at the pumphouse in Terrebonne.

Me about to tackle the steep crux of a 12a route

Sunday we got a full day in, with the new guidebook we were able to get on some new routes, and figure out whats what in terms of some old routes we thought we'd done previously. I did a bunch of new routes from 5.8 to 12a, including a flash of the ridiculously thin Zebra Direct by headlamp after dusk. Yesterday, Chris wanted to make use of his trad rack that he'd been hauling around with him, so he led up Moonshine Dihedral a classic 5.9 corner crack. I probably wouldn't have done it if he didn't get on it, but I'm glad I did because it was so much fun. It gave me a taste of trad climbing and I liked it. So I decided to get on Wartley's Revenge the classic hard trad test piece at Smith, it used to get 11b, but in the new guidebook (which is awesome) it gets 11a. I had seen some people on it before so I knew some beta, I found it to be pretty manageable, I got bomber gear in and cruised through the steep crux. I felt really smooth on it, and before I knew it I made the last big throw and was clipping the chains. It felt really good to tick the climb, my hardest non-prepracticed trad route to date, but it felt even better getting it with the ease that I did. There was no sketchy-ness or panicking like my last hard route at Leavenworth. I felt like I still had some power left at the end and could climb harder. And to make it even better, a photographer from the Bend Bulletin took photos of me on it and I made the front page of the newspaper today which is pretty cool. We finished up the trip with an ascent of the awesome long 10c Nine Gallon Buckets. It was a great finish to an awesome trip, I can't wait to get back out to Smith in the spring now, thanks Laura and Chris for such a fun trip!

Chris starting up Moonshine Dihedral (5.9 trad)



Me on Wartley's Revenge



October Tan

The Dutchess, George Ben and Dave's van/home for the next 6 months.
Me repeating the really fun route Heresey

Me leading a 5.8 in the Red Wall area wearing Laura's shoes that didn't fit my feet, its a long story.

This will have to be a short blog since I've got lots of homework I should be doing. I wasn't sure if I was going to get out climbing this weekend, then I got a call from my good friend George from the UK. He had just arrived in the San Francisco for the start of a 6 month climbing road trip with two mates a few days earlier. For reasons that I wont go into they had to drive up to Oregon in their newly aquired van so decided to stop off at Smith Rock.

Laura, Sarah and I drove down for the weekend to meet them. It was Sarah's first visit to Smith and I think she was impressed. Hanging out with George and his mates Ben and Dave was a lot of fun, being around a good British accent and British humor makes me miss home. They were looking a bit haggard from driving around and sleeping in sub-freezing temps in their van for a week, but their psyche was high for climbing. They had been there for a few days already but with only the old guide for reference they had gotten on some pretty old-school chossfests like a multi-pitch on Picnic Lunch Wall. They were glad to have some local knowledge and I pointed them at some more popular classics like Toxic, Five Easy Pieces, Crack Babies and Heresey. We got on some new things as well, Laura had her Smith lead head on and did well flashing a 10b and onsighting a 10a (these are Smith grades remember). After getting on a lot of easy stuff I decided to ger back on Latest Rage a classic 12b arete that I had tried a couple of years earlier, I didn't remember much about it except that it felt really hard. I was feeling good when I got on it and the tiny crimps and pockets felt surprisingly good, before I knew it I had made the crux move to the jug rail high above the last bolt, from here most people place a good cam in a pocket, but I hadn't brought one because I didn't really expect to get that high on it, I ran it out and managed to keep my calm facing a 40ft whipper if I had blown it. It was a really good feeling to have finished off this classic line so easily and it has me psyched for harder stuff at Smith. I finished off a great weekend with an ascent of Vomit Launch one of the best 5.11's I've climbed anywhere and a cool repeat of Crack Babies a steep 12b. It was really fun hanging out with George again and meeting Ben and Dave, I'm really jelous of their trip, but at least I'll be able to keep up with them on Georges Blog he'll have some hilarious stories for sure. I can't wait to meet up with them again next month in Bishop!

Smith Again

Last weekend we got back down to Smith Rocks. I wasn’t planning on a trip, but a bunch of people from Olympia were heading down and a couple of days before I found out I didn’t have to come into work, so I had no excuses. Micah, Jared, Laura and I headed down after work on Friday and met up with Jeremy Erica and Jimmy who had already been there for a few days. We were glad to have friends down there already since Skull Hollows was packed, and its always nice to arrive a warm fire on a chilly night. On Saturday we started out at Morning Glory as per usual, I warmed up on Overboard to the top chains a fun 11c, that’s really just a whole lot of 10a climbing with a tricky V2 barndoor crux. Laura did a good job on Overboard, one-hanging it on toprope. I also got in a repeat of Nine Gallon Buckets to the top chains as well, it was great to get in some good milage on these long routes, 35 and 30 meter pitches. Micah did well with a couple of relaxed flashes of 11’s, and Jared proved he wasn't scared of Smith with an onsight Nine Gallon Buckets (10c) as his first lead at Smith!

Laura belaying me on the start of Overboard

Once we were warmed up we headed over to dihedrals and I hopped on Chain Reaction. I had gone over the beta in my head a lot since last trip a couple of weeks ago, and it paid off as I cruised past the crux and up to the jug on the lip, with just the one more move left to a jug before the chains I came off. I didn't leave enough room for my heel to rockover on the jug, and I ended up heelhooking on top of my hand bloodying up a finger and falling off in the process. I tried again but didn't manage to make it past the crux. I'm not too keen to get back on it but its one of those routes you just have to do. Congrats to Jimmy who sent it on his second go of the day (6 go's total?), it suited him down to a tee, it was his first 12c, but I predict there will be plenty more the way he was climbing. We finished off the day in Cocaine gully, where I did Chicken McNuggets which is a good route, but its no Walking While Intoxicated. I wanted to get on Vomit Launch, but people were on it, so I settled for Freebase the 12a to the left. It was a fun climb, but I got shut down on the reachy crux. We returned to the campsite where we got a good fire started and cracked open a few PBR's, minutes later a nasty storm blew in and it began pouring/hailing. We escaped to the Terrebonne Depot, where we enjoyed some good food, but it wasn't the same as hanging around the campfire. Some other friends were on their way down from Olympia, but they had to turn around cause of the weather. Luckily for us the rain stopped so we returned to the campsite, with hopes it would be dry in the morning.

Jared On Wedding Day

We woke up on Sunday to blue skies, and dry rock, we shouldn't have worried after all. A few of us were interested in checking out Northern Point the place we went at the end of the trip last week. As I said last time (below), I really like this place a lot. Maybe its just more my style of climbing, where the holds aren't just tiny pebbles, and you can actually hold slopers. I fired off a couple of 11a's Woman in the Meadow and Limbo which were great, and flashed the 12a that Jimmy did last time, it was really fun, I just wished the routes lasted longer. Jimmy and I tried a 12b there as well, but the deadpoint crux to a two finger pocket was a little too reachy for me. After that we decided to hit the road back to Olympia. All in all it was a fun weekend, good to get out climbing with lots of friends. I'm looking forward to the next trip already. I didn't take very many photos, but for more check out Jimmy and Micah's blog. Also I think I figured out how to upload my photos so you can click on them to get more detail. I'll do that from now on.

Jimmy about to pump out on Crack Babies

Me trying a 12b at Northern Point

Smith

This weekend we finally got out on a climbing trip down to Smith Rocks, Oregon. We were debating cancelling the trip when we heard the reports on some weather sites forecasting a 90% chance of precipitation on Saturday (FYI, when checking Smith weather, weather.gov is way more accurate than weather.com). But our faith was justified with dry and and at times sunny weather. Laura, Jimmy, Jeremy and I all crammed into our Honda with all our stuff on Friday after work. We were pleasantly surprised to wake up on Saturday morning to no rain, so we made the most of it and got out to the park early, we left Skull Hollows campsite before 8am, which is a new record for me I think. We met up with Nick and Scott at the parking lot, it was great to see them again they are always fun to climb with, it had been too long since we had last gotten together. We headed down to Picnic Lunch Wall which we had all to ourselves. We started out on a 10a and 10b that go up huecos and a slab, they were a lot of fun. Jimmy got tired of waiting for his turn to climb, so he hopped straight on Five Easy Pieces a 5.12a I had done previously and recommended to him. He proceeded to cruise it onsight, showing how much he had improved since last time he was here. Jeremy also made an impressive start to the trip, it was his first time at Smith and only his second time climbing routes outdoors, he got straight on the sharp end with an impressive flash on Teddy Bear's Picnic the 10b, which even I found a little scary. Scott toproped both the 10a and b clean for a good start to his trip. I tried a 12a to the right called Appian Way. It looked like a lot of fun, it had a bouldery start which you could protect by stick clipping the high first bolt, then it looked like easier ground to the top. It turned out to be a lot harder than I expected though, and I ended up dogging through the start. Its a great 12a to try if you like pinches and laybacks, and its very safe.

Walking into the park on Saturday morning

Jimmy onsighting Five Easy Pieces

Once we were done with that area, we decided to chase the sun so moved over to Morning Glory Wall. I repeated a few of the classics lines like nine gallon buckets (10c), cool ranch flavor (11b). Laura did really well on cool ranch flavor on TR, she did the crux with a lot more style than any of us guys could muster. I wasn't feeling the vibe to try anything hard really, I was just happy to be out on rock in the sun. We drifted over to the Dihedrals, where I decided to give Chain Reaction another try, I had tried it once before, but it just didn't click then. This time I hung and figured out the moves, with helpful beta from Nick and Ryan a local climber, it felt a whole lot more doable. I even figured out a different sequence after the lip, where I heelhooked the 'monkey bar' jug and rocked over to the finishing jug. Its really powerful though, so I didn't really have it in me to give it a good redpoint burn. But now that I know the beta I feel pretty confident for next time.

See it was sunny for a while

Nick on Chain Reaction

We finished off the day doing some fun moderates on the Pheonix Buttress, I really like the rock here, it is sharper with good holds, and some fun pocket pulling. I egged Nick and Jimmy to do a run-out 10d there, they both did it, but thought it was way scary. I then wished I hadn't recommended it when it came my turn to lead it, but I managed to keep my cool and finished it off, I think it was one of my favorite routes of the trip. All in all I got 9 and a half routes done that day, which I'm really happy about considering I was worried about not being able to climb cause of the rain. That night we returned to the Skull Hollows and finished off the day with a few cold PBR's around the campfire.

Laura on Bunnyface

Scott on the sharp end at the Pheonix Buttress

The next morning we rolled up to Smith and it felt a bit colder with a bit of a breeze, a local climber Teagan offered to show us around Northern Point, a smaller area with basalt sport routes that is sheltered from the wind . This crag has a totally different feel to the main areas at Smith, because of the different type of rock, and the style of the routes. It was a really beautiful place to climb, with tan and gray streaked rocks. It reminded me of the sport routes at Vantage, but of a much higher quality. I did a couple of 10c's and an 11a which were really fun before the drizzle started. Jimmy managed another 12a onsight right when it started raining. We decided to pack it up and head back up the road a bit earlier since it looked like everything was getting wet. But Northern Point is definitely somewhere I'd return to. We stopped off at a Mexican place in Madras before we started the long drive back. It was great to get back down to Smith. Although I didn't get to check out a lot of the areas I had hoped to, it was still great to be outside climbing with friends again. I'd really like to make it back to Smith at least once more before the summer heat comes. There's certainly enough stuff there for me to try now.

Me at Northern Point on Sunday

Psyched for Smith

This Friday we’re heading down to Smith Rock in Oregon for our first overnight climbing trip of the year. Its been a while since we were last there. In 07 when we discovered it we probably went 4 or 5 times, but last year we didn't make it out there at all. I really like Smith, but its old school bolting can give it a fairly intimidating feel and there is not a lot of moderates to warm up on. I haven't really done anything hard at Smith, I've onsighted or flashed a bunch of 12a's there and flashed a 12b, but it seems like anything harder than that seems really intimidating. I would like to send some 12+'s, but this is probably asking a bit too much for a weekend trip. We’ll meet Nick and Scott down there and Jimmy, Jared and maybe Jeremy are coming down as well (anyone else from Olympia want to come?). Unfortunately Micah can’t make it cause he has to move that weekend. I really want to get on some new routes so I've been doing a bit of research on areas at Smith that I haven't really explored yet. Here's a few areas I'm keen on checking out:

Picnic Lunch Wall - This was the last area I climbed at at Smith, I only did one route, Five Easy Pieces, which was really good, and had really interesting rock. I remember the routes to the right looked really fun. This online guide shows there being a few good looking 10's and 11's there to the right of it on big heucos, so I definitely want to go back here.

The Red Wall area is up the hill and to the right of Picnic Lunch Wall, away from the main areas, I found this updated topo online. It looks pretty good, it has a bunch of good 5.10's, and I might even bring my trad gear to do Super Slab, which is supposed to be an amazing 5.6 multipitch trad route. It also conveniently tops out at another crag I want to check out Easy's Playhouse.

Easy's Playhouse (pg 178 in the guide) is somewhat of an obscure crag at Smith but it sounds really good, the guidebook describes it as 'overhanging, closely spaced bolts and athletic moves'. It has an 11d, 12a, 12c and 12d. My friend Daniel has done the 12a here, which he described as a 'bolted pull up contest' which sounds pretty good to me.

Another area I'd like to check out is the upper area of Shipwreck Wall, there have been some (semi) new routes put up there, including Tsunami a 15 bolt 12c jug haul that goes through 3 different roof systems. Sounds like an amazing route, and the type of route I did well at in Europe over the summer, there is also some 10, 11's and easier 12's to try there as well.

As well as these new areas, I'm sure we'll end up at the dihedrals like we always do. If I'm feeling brave I might try Full Heinous Cling, I've flashed it to its first chains which is 12a, but its a long way to the second chains and its run out. While I'm here I might try Chain Reaction again, its THE classic route at Smith, I've tried it before but it felt really awkward then, so we'll see.

I'd also like to go back to Cocaine Gully to do the classic route 'Vomit Launch'. At 11b this is one of the few moderate classics I've yet to try. Right next to it is Chicken McNuggets a 10b that everyone says is really good, so I've got to get on it. And to the left of Vomit Launch is a 12a called Freebase, which I've never really looked at but the guide makes it sound pretty good, so maybe if I have time.

And if anyone else has any recommendations for routes I should try, especially 10's and 11's I'm open to suggestions. The ticklist above is pretty ambitious, but I'll just try to do as much as possible. Even if I don't get around to trying many of these routes I know I will have a great time just being there and hanging out with friends. I'm sure I'll get on a lot more different routes than these, it seems like each time I go to Smith I end up on coming back with more projects than I left with. Below are some photos of past smith trips to whet the appetite.

Smith Rocks!

Last weekend Laura, Nick and I got down to Smith Rock in Oregon. One of the premier sport climbing venues in the country. It was the first time down there this fall for Laura and I, but Nick had been down a few weekends before and sent his long term project the Smith classic Chain Reaction. It was his first 12c (7b+) and since my last visit in March my redpoint level had increased from 12b to 12d, so we were pretty excited to get on some new hard things. Our photographer Micah wasn't with us this trip so most of these photos are from earlier this year, apart from the last one Nick took on his cell phone.

Morning Glory Wall

We drove down after work on Friday, and 5 hours later we had met up with our friends Philip and Ryan from Oregon huddling around the campfire at the Skull Hollows campground. It got pretty cold, well below freezing, but we prepared and wore a lot of clothes. Saturday morning once the sun came out it got pretty warm, and we were shedding our layers fast. I was surprised how warm it was there still, in the high 60's in the shade, and it made climbing in the sun hard.

Laura on a route in the Chritian Brothers area

We got out to the park pretty quick and Laura and I warmed on the easy classics at Morning Glory Wall, Five Gallon Buckets 5.8, Light on the Path 5.10a (6a), which we both led. I wanted to up the level a bit and get on Nine Gallon Buckets or Magic Light, but they both has queues, so I hopped on the route to right of Nine Gallon called Cool Ranch Flavor, I was told it was 11a (6c) to the first chains, then 12a (7a+) to the top chains. It was a fun route and I climbed it pretty smooth, I got to the first chains still feeling pretty good, and there was hanging draws on the top part so I shouted down to Laura that I was going for the extension. After the chains the climbing turns into to typical Smith crimping on small holds, but no really hard moves just sustained, I kept the momentum going and before I knew it I was at the chains. Nice a 12a onsight! That was a good start to the trip. We hung around on Morning Glory a while longer and got a couple of laps on Nine Gallon Buckets (10c) before it got too hot, then found some shade. Over in the Christian Brothers Philip led Dreamin the super scary 12a which goes up this huge runout slab, a fall on this would be bad. Nick toproped it clean but didn't feel up for the lead. From there Laura and I headed down to do the classic Smith 10b Barbeque the Pope. We had wanted to get on it for a long time but it always seemed to be busy. This time no one was on it, so we took our chance. We got out our brand new stick clip for the first clip. But it didn't quite reach, the first clip is high! I managed to clip it by climbing up the first moves and clipping from there. I didn't enjoy the route at all though. I know it's a classic but that doesn't mean its good. In fact at smith it usually means its polished and scary runout. I got up it and put it on a toprope for laura, she was glad she decided not to lead it. We headed back to find the rest of the guys. Nick was going for the onsight of a tall dihedrals arête called Vision. He came off at the crux slapping around the arête on bad holds. He clipped the chains, and came down feeling pretty good about it, he thought it felt pretty easy for a 12d, then I told him it was only a 12b! I went for the flash, but even with Nick's beta I came off at the crux, I blame my shoes. I didn't want to go for the redpoint it felt pretty hard, and scary up top. But Nick went for it again and came pretty close, but came off at the crux again, he stripped the route and we moved on.

Laura on Shipwreck Wall

On Sunday we got out pretty early again and warmed with a couple of routes on Morning Glory Wall. I did Cool Ranch Flavor again to put the draws up for nick to try. He got past the first chains but came off on the upper section, he hung around, figured out the sequence and dispatched it second go, which was made even harder by the heat. Dreamin was in the shade, so Nick decided to get back on it. He looked focused and kept his cool on the run outs and clipped the chains, it was very impressive. I hopped on it on toprope but I don't think I'll be leading it anytime soon, its way scary. Good Job Nick! We were thinking of walking over Asterix Pass to the back side, but we weren't really feeling psyched. So we got on Balshphemy a new 11a on the Christian Brothers. It's a really sweet climb, I'd done it before but I'd definitely do it again. Its very un-smith like, very technical with no positive holds at the crux.

The Dihedrals

We then decided to head to the other side of the park, to Picnic Lunch Wall to check out a climb we'd heard about called Five Easy Pieces. We weren't sure where exactly it was cause it wasn't in our guide, so we got on a cool looking climb that had the most chalk on it. Nick started up it but had to hang to figure out the sequence, as he was on it a local named Calvin came over and confirmed to us that it was in fact Five Easy Pieces. Laura had a go on toprope and Calvin hopped on it as well, then it was my turn. It starts out on really featured rock, a cool tufa feature, then up through pockets and a couple of deep mono's before you have to step left and go up on opposing sidepulls. At this point you're above the last bolt, and you have to make a burly move up to a juggy hueco. I knew I had to do the move one way or another to get the draws out so I thought I might as well go for the flash and committed to the move. I latched it, I had 3 more bolts to go before the chains with no rests. It was a fight, but I kept it together and used my last reserves of energy to get to the top. I was psyched to flash this as my last climb of the trip it, it was a really cool climb to finish of a really cool weekend.

Laura Me and Nick at the end of the weekend